Hartford Symphony Orchestra - Ravel & Debussy - Michael Spivakovsky (Born November 9, 1919 in London Died May 13, 1983 in New York City)

Michael Spivakovsky (Born November 9, 1919 in London Died May 13, 1983 in New York City)

Harmonica Concerto (1951)

World Premiere: May 1951
Last HSO Performance: HSO Premiere
Instrumentation: Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion, strings
Duration: 15’

Michael Spivakovsky was genetically programmed to be a musician — his Russian-born father was a cellist whose four brothers were a singer and voice teacher (Adolf), pianist (Jascha), violinist (Isaak) and Tossi, one of his generation’s leading violin virtuosos. Michael, born in London in 1919, began violin studies at age four, played the Mendelssohn Concerto with the London Philharmonic when he was nine, and entered the Guildhall School of Music in London on full scholarship when he was fourteen. During World War II, Spivakovsky organized an orchestra that was broadcast on BBC and wrote arrangements of light music for it; he remained at the BBC as conductor, violinist, violist, arranger and composer and also played in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra until moving to New York City in 1954. After he settled in America, Spivakovsky worked as Principal Violist of the American Ballet Theater, a member of the Concord String Quartet, violinist and conductor for Broadway shows, performer and arranger for recordings by Tony Bennett, Carmen McRae, Harry Belafonte and other leading popular artists, and a core member of Frank Sinatra’s orchestra for thirteen years. Michael Spivakovsky died in New York in May 1983.

Spivakovsky composed a number of original light classical works, the best known of which is the Harmonica Concerto he wrote in 1951 for British virtuoso Tommy Reilly, a pioneer in championing the harmonica as a serious concert instrument; Reilly premiered it on a BBC broadcast on May 26, 1951 with the London Radio Concert Orchestra and conductor Mark Lubbock. It was the first concerto for harmonica and it succeeded so well that three dozen other concert works were written for Reilly by such noted composers as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Robert Farnon and Gordon Jacob.

Spivakovsky’s Harmonica Concerto opens with a broad orchestral introduction followed by a solo cadenza that confirms both the instrument’s prominence in the work and its technical and expressive capabilities. After an orchestral interlude, the main section of the movement is perfectly characterized by its marking: Dance Drôle [“droll” in French]. A lyrical central episode and a return of the Dance Drôle round out the movement. The Romance is music of tender sentiments. The finale is a showcase for the harmonica virtuosity that Spivakovsky’s Concerto was the first work to reveal.